Ontario set for medal round at U-17s

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HOCKEY CANADA ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

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Semi-Final Matchups Set At 2008 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

LONDON, ONTARIO – And then there were four.

The 2008 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge has reached the semi-final stage. Team Ontario will meet Team West in Thursday’s first semi-final (3 p.m., John Labatt Centre), and Team USA will face off against Team Pacific in the other semi (7:30 p.m., John Labatt Centre).

Team Ontario won Pool A with a 4-0 record, completing the perfect mark with a 7-4 win over Slovakia on Wednesday night and Team Pacific finished second in Pool A (2-1-0-1). Quebec beat Pacific 4-3 in overtime last night in an exciting affair that saw Pacific score two goals in the last minute to force overtime.

Meanwhile, Team USA won Pool B with a 3-1 record and Team West finished in second place at 3-1, thanks to a 4-1 victory over Team Russia on Wednesday.

Team Ontario is looking for its sixth championship all-time at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. That record includes winning the split championship in 1998. Ontario’s last championship came in 2004 in St. John’s, NL. Team West has won this event once, that coming in 2005 in Lethbridge, AB.

Team USA seeks its third championship, having won back-to-back titles in 2001 (New Glasgow/Truro, NS) and 2002 (Selkirk/Stonewall, MB). Team Pacific has never won the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge but finished second at four straight events (2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005).

The two semi-final losers will meet in Friday’s bronze-medal game (1 p.m., JLC) and the winners will play for the gold medal (7:30 p.m., JLC). The gold medal game will be shown live on TSN/RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada.

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Ontario defeats Slovakia at Under-17s

Peter Holland of the Guelph Storm scored a pair of second period goals that paced Ontario to a 6-4 win over Slovakia in the final preliminary round game at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge at the John Labatt Centre in London on Wednesday.

Matt Duchene of the Brampton Battalion also scored a goal and added three assists to move into second in tournament scoring with nine points in four games.

Andrew Agozzino of the Niagara IceDogs, Joey Hishon of the Owen Sound Attack and Zach Kassian of the Peterborough Petes also scored for Ontario, who finished the preliminary round with a perfect 4-0-0 record.

Ontario captain Ryan O'Reilly of the Erie Otters picked up two assists and Michael Zador of the London Knights made 10 saves for his fourth win of the tournament.

Ontario will face Team West (3-1-0) in the semi-finals on Thursday with the winner advancing to the gold medal game on Friday (7:30 p.m. on TSN).

Ontario's Under-17 Team includes 20 OHL rookies along with head coach Jason Brooks of the Guelph Storm and assistant coaches Jake Grimes from the Belleville Bulls and Mario Cichillo of the Niagara IceDogs.

The event features five regional teams from across Canada and five international teams from Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia and USA. Team Ontario plays in a division which includes Team Pacific, Quebec, Finland and Slovakia.

Follow the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge online at HockeyCanada.ca

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